


Core Corruption

by connorssock



Series: Prompt Fills [23]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Abduction, Android Hank, Human Gavin, M/M, Mind Manipulation, Violence against an android, mentions of child death, reverse au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 19:13:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20493845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/connorssock/pseuds/connorssock
Summary: Things had settled, Hank and Gavin had worked out their differences both in and out of work. In a fit of arrogance, Gavin thought a criminal gang were after him, only to find that all along, Hank had been their target. The gang's aim? To make androids equal to humans by making them believe they were human.





	Core Corruption

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Skye_Willows](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skye_Willows/gifts).

> So Skye signed up for an exchange earlier this year but never got a gift despite creating one for someone. Thus, this is a very late and very unofficial pinch hit. Hope you enjoy!

In retrospect, Gavin should have realised that the gang wasn’t gunning for him. It didn’t fit their MO, didn’t make any sense. But pride and vestiges of anti-android sentiments had blinded him. He hadn’t been able to see why a group of criminals would want a deviant hunter turned detective. It had been Gavin who had put more criminals behind bars, had more vendettas against him than most other cops combined in the precinct. So, in the panic of the situation, it had seemed like a sensible assumption to think that the gang was after him. He and Hank had split up to confuse their attackers, Hank taking the more obvious, more human route while Gavin had hauled himself up a fire escape ladder and across rooftops. It was only when there was no sound of feet following him and no Hank at their meeting point 20 minutes later that he realised that something had gone very very wrong.

Trying to track Hank was futile, he’d found the scene of a scuffle, a splatter of blood and a scan by a handheld device revealed splashes of thirium too, along with a tracker that had been carelessly dug out of Hank’s chassis. Calling it in, a wave of worry washed through Gavin. After everything they’d gone through, all the progress they had made both as a team and as individuals, to have it all torn away when he was on the cusp of happiness would have been a crippling blow.

The ruling that he was too close to the case had hurt but Fowler was probably right. Gavin was as much a victim here as Hank and he couldn’t do much without his personal thoughts clouding his judgement and making it personal. So they’d brought in an outside team. Much to Gavin’s surprise, it wasn’t another precinct or even the FBI. They had been deemed to busy with other cases and too much in shambles after the revolution to be considered an option. Somehow, Fowler had pulled some strings and the SWAT team had picked up the case instead. Not like they were getting anywhere fast either, even with their expanded resources and databases. Whoever had snatched Hank was good.

It was the third day of nothing when the videos started coming in. Nothing overt at first, just Hank, tied to a chair, hair dishevelled and eyes a little wild. There was no sign of the LED on his temple but at least whatever thirium he had lost had been cleared away and he had been patched up.

“Androids had wanted to much to be equals, to be human,” a narrator off screen was saying. “If we can make the most advanced one believe he is one, then all androids will too.”

The video cut out, the source was not possible to trace, likely transmitted from an android rather than a camera. In his seat, Allen leaned back with a frown while Gavin glance around the room. Surely someone had to be able to figure something out from it. Watching the video again and again didn’t help. The location was generic basement, the voice heavily modulated at source rather than through post-production editing. There was nothing to be gleaned from the video other than the motivation for the abduction and that Hank, for now, was relatively unharmed.

Another video came two days later.

“First lesson, grief.”

On the screen, Hank was plugged into a rig but seemed completely unaware of it. There was a screen set up opposite him and his eyes were glued to it.The way the scene was set up, those viewing the video could see both Hank and the display, which made Gavin’s blood run cold.

“Cole,” Hank whimpered as the picture of a young boy flashed up.

“Who was he to you?” a voice off screen asked and Hank’s lips wobbled.

“I couldn’t save him, I’m sorry.” Tears streamed down his face. “I couldn’t save my own son.”

A knot tightened in Gavin’s stomach and he grit his teeth while everybody sent him pitying glances. Cole had been his little boy, his son. It was rare for him to talk about Cole, the pain still too sharp but he’d managed to open up to Hank. Talk about the fateful phone call informing him that Cole and his mother were in hospital following an accident. Even as Gavin had dropped everything to get there in time, he had been too late to see Cole one last time. While Cole’s mother had survived, they weren’t on speaking terms and after the accident, there was absolutely nothing left to say so they broke all contact.

To see Hank mourn Cole as though he was his own son hurt on a whole new level. Anger seethed through Gavin, the rage that his life was being taken from him, his pain, grief and fury boiled and made him see red. Pushing away from the table, he stalked out of the room, barely able to breath around the scream building in his chest. Nobody moved to go after him, that had only been Hank’s questionable privilege. After that incident, Fowler had tried to keep Gavin out of the case, away from any fresh details that came in. To circumvent him, Gavin cornered Allen instead.

“You know if you don’t tell me, I’m just going to hack the case anyway and watch all the videos by myself,” he threatened. The look in Allen’s eyes told him everything he needed to know and a quick glance to Fowler’s office was enough.

“Once the captain leaves, I’ll bring you up to speed.” The promise was a softly spoken almost whisper but Gavin caught it all the same. Grinning sharply, he nodded and turned on his heels.

Once Fowler was out of the office, he didn’t have to search Allen out because the man was already by his desk with two cups of coffee. They settled in a side room, locked it and turned the cameras off for good measure.

“It’s not pretty,” Allen warned. “They’ve corrupted Hank’s identity modules, have him utterly convinced he’s human. The world’s most advanced android and he can’t differentiate himself from his creators anymore.”

Allen shook his head with a sigh and turned to the display screen. “He thinks Cole was his son, mourns him, cries for him and has expressed a wish to join him in death as the torture has gone on. It’s not an easy watch. Are you sure you want to see this?”

Nodding, Gavin braced himself. With a few keystrokes, the video was up and Allen took a sip of coffee as he sat back. On the screen, Hank was strung up in a rig yet again.

“Please,” he was begging, hair hanging in his face, “I have nothing to offer you. I don’t even know what you want.”

“We already told you, was just want you human,” the voice replied. “You know, androids don’t feel pain.”

There was a mocking tone to the voice and Hank’s eyes widened as someone walked closer with a large metal pot. The rig holding his right arm whirred to life, straightened it out and held Hank rigidly in place.

“No!” The word fell repeatedly from Hank’s lips from soft whimper to screams as the pot of boiling water was opened up under his bare lower arm. The steam engulfed it and he screamed, trying to jerk away from the heat. When the water was poured over the arm, he convulsed, voice glitching into a static scream before shutting down.

“An android, so convinced he’s human, he thinks he can feel pain.” The narrator gave a commentary. “And yet there’s no physical proof of his perceived burns. I wonder how his mind will justify that.” As they spoke, the figure on the screen turned and a glimpse of their face was shown.

“There!” Gavin jumped at the sight, pointing to it, rewinding the footage. “We have a partial identity to match. Tell me someone is on this. We’ve got the bastards with this, surely!”

The glance Allen cast as his watch should have clued him in. Realisation was slow to dawn on Gavin and he grabbed Allen by the shirt collar, pulling him from his chair before roughly shaking him and shoving him back down. Keeping hold of his shirt, Gavin straddled his lap menacingly.

“What are they doing?” he snarled low and threatening.

“The raid started fifteen minutes ago, I was tasked with keeping you out of the way for as long as possible. They should be retrieving him as we speak.” He said it with such cool ease that Gavin snapped in rage.

“We’re going. You’re going to get me there. I’m helping rescue Hank.”

Shrugging, Allen nodded. “The worst will be over now, you’re free to go where you please.”

Despite his callous words, he drove Gavin fifteen minutes across town to a suburb. It was all too easy to spot the house in question, cars crowded around it, along with a gaggle of spectators and reporters. Allen had no qualms about pushing through roughly, dragging Gavin behind him. There was still something going on if people hadn’t dispersed yet. Gruffly, Allen grabbed the nearest officer and demanded a sitrep.

“Assailants under control, transport is on the way. However, the android in the basement is proving to be an issue. His stress levels are dangerously high but he can’t seem to self-destruct.”

Gavin didn’t need to hear any more and he took off towards the house, thundering down into the basement where the rig was. Even from the top of the stairs, he could hear the begging.

“Please! I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not an android! I had a son!”

“Hank?” Gavin called and pushed closer, through the group of people on the edge. “Hank!”

“Reed? What are you doing here? Tell these people the truth. I’m not an android. We’ve known each other for years. You’ve even met Cole. Why won’t they believe me?”

The appropriation of his life cut deep and Gavin had to hold his position through gritted teeth rather than step back as though he’d been slapped. On top of that, they were back to ‘Reed’ rather than ‘Gavin’ or even ‘Gav’ in the privacy of their home.

The rig Hank was plugged into was hooked to a screen which showed vitals. Thirium levels at 85%, stress levels at 98%. At times it ticked to 99% but something was holding Hank back from self destruction and it wasn’t the rig. The irony was, it was probably the belief that he was human that kept him alive, kept him from destroying himself from inside out. Gavin swallowed thickly.

“You and I hate androids just the same Reed. How could anyone believe I was one?” Hank asked with a voice full of static.

Sighing, Gavin stepped closer, watched as Hank reared back as much as the rig would allow him.

“First things first, let’s get you out of here,” he reached for the rig’s arm holding Hank’s wrist in a firm clasp. Thirium was trickling from where he had strained against it. Seeing Hank turn to look, Gavin held up a hand. “Don’t look. It’s better if you don’t see.”

Obediently, Hank turned away and closed his eyes. It didn’t help though and he whimpered in pain as Gavin eased the rig away and watched the exposed chassis under it engage the self-healing protocols. Working as quickly as possible, Gavin freed Hank, pulled plugs from ports at the back of his neck. At long last, Hank was crumpling to the floor beneath the rig in heaving gulps of tears.

In an instant, Gavin was next to him, pulling him close and carding a hand through tangled hair. At least Hank wasn’t pushing him away so that was something. Instead, he was staring at the thirium around his wrists, the visible patches of chassis.

“I don’t understand,” he stammered and looked up at Gavin with watery, wide eyes. “I can remember a life. A human life. With Cole.”

Gavin’s hands were shaking and tears pricked at his eyes as he brought their foreheads together. A gesture so familiar and yet feeling so foreign to Hank at the same time. The longer they stayed like that, the more the confusion took over. He could pick through memories of his life, of growing up, of holding Cole for the first time, of burying him. Yet, each of those memories seemed to be narrated by Gavin, moments of the memories interspersed by flashes of sitting at a bar and Gavin having a drink. Of being curled up in bed and Gavin trying to hide his tears in the dark. It was all so confusing, Hank could feel his love for Gavin at war with the memories of him being an utter jackass after his job and trying to get him fired. Whispers echoed in his mind, reminding him that Gavin wanted him out of a job because he was an android, not because he was a drunk. It hurt, the emptiness of loss from Cole hurt. He was human and yet he was an android. The blue blood he couldn’t tear his eyes from proved that.

“Gavi?” The nickname felt familiar on his tongue, warm and loved, well used.

“Right here, Hank.”

“I miss Cole,” his lips trembled it all, so did Gavin’s.

“I miss him too. But he can be our son now, if that makes it easier. Share the grief.”

Nodding, Hank pulled Gavin closer. He still wasn’t sure what was going on, but it felt right to hold each other. Like they had done before. Those were memories he was finding again. Superseding the ones of their fighting, putting those back into the correct time frame. Gavin had been a dick, sure, but hadn’t been for a long while now.

Soon, they would have to get up. Hank will need to go to a diagnostics centre, have the virus he’d been infected with quarantined and a patch worked out from his samples. But that was something that could be dealt with later. Someone draped an emergency blanket around them, harsh words clearing the onlookers out until it was just three sets of heartbeats Hank could hear. Gavin’s and two other humans nearby. A quick glance and analysis revealed it was Captain Fowler and Captain Allen, both glaring at each other, obviously in a silent disagreement over something.

Deciding to ignore them for now, Hank sagged against Gavin and blinked as his HUD was coming back into action. Oddly, he’d missed it, being able to track Gavin’s vitals on a whim. Closing his eyes, Hank began an internal diagnostic, knowing that Gavin had him now, would take care of everything while he was out of commission. It was a relaxing thought and Hank pressed a little closer, not quite able to say thank you but hoping the sentiment carried anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> Bumbling along over on tumblr as @connorssock


End file.
